Review: Zombie Kill of the Week (PC)

Tazman: Zombie Kill of the Week Reborn (ZKWR) on Steam is a re-release of a game that came out back in 2010 (or 2013 depending on the source). ZKWR tackles the trope of zombie horde destruction in a 2D map with your character being able to shoot 360 degrees in what can only be described as one of the worst rotator cup tears of all time. The game art is very simplistic – I'd go so far as to describe it as a flash-game on steroids, but the visuals aren't the draw – the game speed is.

Aaron: Let's be very clear about this. Zombie Kill of the Week started as an Android game in 2013 (or 2010). That's not to say that Android games can't be fun or should somehow be frowned upon, but the gameplay doesn't lend itself to a PC game.

Review: Trapped Dead: Lockdown (PC)

Who doesn't enjoy Zombie games?

*random guy sheepishly raises hand*

It's cool, you're excused.

Trapped Dead Lockdown is a neat little isometric-view hack-slash-and-shoot zombie annihilation game. You choose one of five characters (each their own class) and live out their own personal missions inside a city gripped by a zombie apocalypse. The world is about as cheerful as you'd expect, with all the typical tropes of characters being the worst possible people you could imagine when things start to get hairy.

Review: Escape Dead Island (PC)

Maybe it's because it's the close of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, and another birthday for yours truly, that I'm feeling too old, decrepit and tired to have any patience for video games that are slapped into lock-step with tried and true formulas that have proven effective in the past but stopped filling me with awe or, hell, interest.

And that, predictably, is where Escape Dead Island comes in.

Review: Dead Rising 3 - Apocalypse Edition (PC)

Dead Rising 3 initially scared me a little. When I first saw the reveal trailer, I was concerned the game had tossed away its campy stories and incredibly silly gameplay and weaponry in favour of being more “edgy."

Fast forward to the launch of the PC version. (It was released about a year ago for Xbox One.) I purchased it giving Capcom the benefit of the doubt, and despite some optimization issues, this is Dead Rising at its best.

Review: Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (PC)

Ninjas and zombies seems like a natural fit but Yaibu: Ninja Gaiden Z squanders what could have been a choice opportunity to whirl together a rollicking zombie action game like 2012's Lollipop Chainsaw did.

Instead what's delivered is a rote action game (but really, really hard) with enough offensive imagery and characters to fill a spit bucket on a porn set, that is both woefully repetitive and uninteresting.

Review: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (Xbox One)

In 2009, a tower defense game came out that had plants defending their gardens from zombies, a ridiculous premise that worked surprisingly well. The overhead or side view works well in this kind of tower defence game, so there were those who were skeptical when PopCap Games announced that they would be releasing a third-person shooter game based on the franchise. Skeptics, relax.

While this isn't anywhere in the league of a Call of Duty or something similar in size, if you just want to have some sit-down fun this game is exactly what the botanist ordered. There are various modes and while the graphics won't blow the lid off of your Xbox One, they are quite decent and clearly charming at the same time.

Review: The Last of Us: Left Behind (PS3)

In some ways it seems like it's been years since I explored the world of Joel and Ellie in the Last of Us. It was a gaming experience unlike any other and it's one that doesn't quickly leave your mind even after it's over. From moments of heartache to ones where your skin crawls at the thought of a Clicker biting your neck, The Last of Us had it all.

Review: The Walking Dead - Season 2: Episode 1 (PC)

At the close of The Walking Dead Season 1, developer Telltale Games could have been forgiven for moving on to other stories, to shift the focus from Clementine, the small girl that escaped Season 1, to other people trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. After all, The Walking Dead series -- in the comics, the television show, and the games -- has no compunction about killing off major characters to move the story along.

Season 2 makes Clementine the focus and introduces many new characters, accompanied by an oddly upbeat sensibility. At least, if one were to define "upbeat" by horror, horror everywhere!

Review: How to Survive (PC)

How to Survive is an almost quirky mixtures of horrible thing/zombie titles you might already be familiar with. There are elements of Dead Rising, Dead Island, and the Hunter: Reckoning games; along with hints of isometric post-apocalyptic role-playing and possibly Monkey Island.

It's almost something I'd recommend to see what a small studio can do, especially if you're looking to pick-up games on the cheap -- $15 seems just about right -- but for me it whiffs on capitalizing on it's biggest asset: Kovac.

Review: Resident Evil: Revelations (360)

If there's one thing that the Resident Evil series brings to the table every single time, it's this: Crazy.

Storywise the game is positioned between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 -- and bounces around quite a bit in flashbacks -- but control wise it's a giant leap back to a more plodding experience, especially compared to the most recent actiony bang-run-dodge then stab-stab-duck of Resident Evil 6.

Resident Evil: Revelations is also the first game I can think of that has gone from a handheld experience -- released on the 3DS at the start of 2012 -- and was re-drawn and brought forward to a console. In my brain, these games are supposed to go the other way: large console or PC experiences that are pared down and modified to cram into a handheld. They did it with Max Payne, didn't they? But this kind of boggles my mind.

Review: The Last of Us (PS3)

Few games have been as anticipated as The Last Of Us.  Officially announced December 10, 2011 on the Spike TV Video Game Awards, it's been a long wait for players and an even longer development cycle as a second team at Naughty Dog started working on this game in 2009 just after Uncharted 2 shipped.

The Last of Us tells the tale of Joel and Ellie as they journey through a bleak world that has been infected by some apparently unstoppable contagion (transmitted by bite). Their ultimate goal may be to find a cure, but it won't be without a high cost to both of them.

There are various stages and terrifying forms of infection: a "runner" to a blind "clicker", and eventually a bullet-absorbing "bloater." There are also human enemies in the game. The military is out to "protect" everyone, which in this case, won't work (I don't want to spoil the story completely for you). There are also marauders in various places that will try and take you down as well. Although overall there isn't a great deal of variety in the enemies, they do all react differently and require different tactics to defeat.

Preview: Dead Rising 3 (XB1)

It's three days after a terrible zombie outbreak in Los Perdidos and Nick Ramos is about to have a very bad day. Or possibly, series of days. As the third game in the Dead Rising franchise (in development at Capcom Vancouver) there needed to be a shift from the confining mall and Vegas-like settings of the previous games and the developers have done so by making the game open world.

Review: The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left (PC)

At the conclusion of the penultimate episode of the Walking Dead, Around Every Corner, you just knew nothing good was going to happen in the concluding episode, which ends just the way you expect it to: the worst way possible.

Review: Resident Evil Chronicles HD Collection (PS3)

The Resident Evil Chronicles games were first released for the Wii but now it's available, in HD, on Playstation 3.

The game is a simple rail shooter, but it does feel a bit special knowing it serves as a cool recap of the Resident Evil franchise. Gets you all caught up with the story without having to play through the originals if you don’t feel like spending hours with each game. Makes me wish some other franchises would borrow this idea.

Review: The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner

As horrible as The Walking Dead continues to be, for some reason I anticipate every episode. Even when I know right from the title screen that the horribleness will stretch as far as the eye can see, I dedicate 2 - 3 hours to play from start to finish. Episode 4: Around Every Corner not only lives up to it's subtitle (and horribleness), it also expands into other territories: Up in the Attic, Inside the Sewer, and Back to School. The latter, unfortunately, without Rodney Dangerfield.

Review: Resident Evil 6 (360)

The glacial pace that the Resident Evil franchise is moving away from its roots in survival horror to "action game with zombies" is happening too slowly. Resident Evil 4 was a marked departure from the fixed camera of the first trio of games (quadro if you count RE: Ø) but it still suffered from tank-like controls, even if the game was heaped with praise during it's glory days.

Resident Evil 5 started the melt toward Gears of War's 3rd person action; Resident Evil 6 nudges it a little further. But what the franchise needs is a rapid warming to move one direction because it feels like the developers are trying to straddle too many horses at once with Resident Evil 6.

Preview: Resident Evil 6 (360, PC, PS3)

Resident Evil 6 has all the makings of a zombie version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It seems like the entirety of the Resident Evil pantheon of characters will make some kind of appearance if they're not a playable character outright.

Review: Killing Floor - Gold Edition (PC)

Some multiplayer shooters have a certain stickiness to them and long after the official release the online community remains strong. Counter-Strike is a good example.

Originally released back in 2000 as a Half-Life mod, there are strong communities still around playing the original Counter-Strike. In fact, any time there's an update or patch the online community goes a bit bonkers because "upsets the balance" or "forces new strategies.". That level of community involvement is rare for multiplayer shooters nowadays. One of those titles is Killing Floor.

Review: The Walking Dead: Long Road Ahead (PC)

If this review was an interpretive dance it would consist solely of a half-dozen biker-types curled in the fetal position screaming for their mamas.

Review: Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

If you easily get seasick, this horror zombie adventure from Capcom is unlikely to go over well. If you are sensitive to 3D at all, it will just make the experience that much worse.

First, a little background. Revelations is set in the year 2005 (between Resident Evil 4 and 5). The story revolves around Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, who you might remember from the first game. Jill and Parker are sent to search for Chris and Jessica on the “SS Queen Zenobia”, which is a cruise ship that serves as the main setting for the game. The typical storytelling crutches such as flashbacks are used to “flesh out” the story (sorry for that pun) which is told via a third-person perspective (although you can switch to first person if you wish).